Perfect Little Pearls
by indridcold13
Summary: With Steven off world, the Crystal Gems find themselves facing off against an old enemy... with a particular interest in Pearl
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Didn't know I was supposed to put this in the text itself initially. The story was inspired by a dream I had after marathoning the last season of the show. It literally took the form of a trailer in my brain. This is why it isn't really compatible with the movie, but I decided to go ahead with it anyway.

This will be my first proper story, so I have no illusions it'll actually be good. Hopefully I'll improve as I go and maybe you'll like some of it just a little.

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**Chapter 1.**

The first thing she was aware of was her form. She hadn't seen herself but she just knew what she was, from her salmon-pink hair to the oddly long nose.

Next came a sense of warmth. No, not really. It was that false warmth that comes when you stop feeling the cold of the water around you.

Thus came the feeling of buoyancy; she was floating, inside a dark little world.

The sound of sucking and she felt herself lowering. Her feet touched the ground for the first time as the water disappeared into drains below her.

Looking around (her eyes adjusted perfectly to the low light levels) she saw a large room filled with around a dozen tanks identical to the one she stood in now. All were either draining or already empty of liquid. Each now held a Pearl of some kind or another, in various colours too! There were so many other gems around as well. At the panels were Peridots, working frantically to operate systems and read outputs. On the far side of the room two of them were wrestling with cables from a half-dismantled console while a Graphite droned instructions that they were clearly ignoring. On the catwalks there were two Ruby squads, one with four Rubies and the other with six. The smaller squad was slowly marching around the perimeter, while the larger group was waiting by the entrance and ruff-housing and joking amongst themselves. They settled themselves under the glare of one of the two Topazes that were guarding the doorway. Looking over all of this was a Jade scientist who was very focused on a tank that contained a blue Pearl whose hair hung over one of her eyes.

All this information came instantly to her, she just seemed to suck in all the details before her without trying.

The Jade began calling the Rubies and the sextuplet quickly scampered down the stairs to the main floor and split up. Each Ruby collected two Pearls from their tanks and gathered them in the center of the room. One that seemed to be in charge and had her gem in her chest came to collect her. As she was lead to the group she thought about who she was. A Pearl obviously, but so were the others. How could she define herself? But almost immediately the information was appearing in her mind; Batch-1123 Tank-3141. That brought a smile to here face. Like pi.

The Rubies positioned themselves around the Pearls and herded them up the stairs and out the door. As they moved through the hall 3141 saw one of the Rubies catching the eye of a light-reddish Pearl with two curly buns on the sides of her head, only to look away blushing when she looked back.

They walked through the facility, turning this way and that, every hall seemingly identical. As they travelled they were joined by other groups of Pearls and Rubies from other areas of the complex. And still they kept moving. The Pearls had kept silent this whole time and 3141 had the sense they weren't supposed to talk but a greyish-white Pearl whose fringe hid here eyes suddenly spoke; "Where do you think they're taking us?" She seemed to be asking the whole group but no one responded. They looked around at each other searchingly but it was obvious no one new what to say.

They finally, after a small eternity, came to a room. It was about the same size as the room with the tanks but was completely empty, with the exception of a single Amethyst. The back wall was a gigantic window with a view of the vast cityscape that covered the Gem Homeworld. One of Rubies at the front of the group, who had a gem instead of her left eye, was speaking excitedly to her comrades.

"Haven't you ever wanted to just touch one? Just to say you did"

"That's not our job." The leader responded "We guard the merchandise, we don't get to use them."

"I'm not gonna break it!" The one-eyed one responded, reaching out at the blue Pearl who looked very uncomfortable.

"Hey! Don't touch them!" The Amethyst yelled. The Rubies immediately snapped to attention. "We need to preserve their condition for inspection!"

At that moment a door opened, and out stepped another Pearl. This one's form was clad in a black skirt suit, with jet black hair framing a pure white face, and a deep black pearl in her forehead.

"Thank you Amethyst." She said taking her place before the large group. "You may leave now."

The Amethyst saluted and motioned for the Rubies to follow her as she left the room.

After the door closed the black Pearl turned to them all "Now then." A small holographic screen appeared in the air in front of each Pearl. It looked like a drawing program.

"Who can draw me a map of the building?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2.**

It was the pants that got her.

When she had been poofed, the situation had been desperate. There was no time to go over every minute detail of her form, Steven was in trouble! (Also he had told her how hard it was to have her spending weeks in regeneration. It made sense, that was a long time for humans.)

Steven had once asked if the inside of a gem looked like a black void. She had tried to explain, perhaps not clearly enough, that it didn't really look like anything. You can see a black void but in the gem you don't have eyes or any sense of vision. You aren't aware of anything besides yourself. Though, sometimes, during longer regenerations, she felt the presence of those she loved close by. Originally it had been Rose but then Steven had taken her place. She wasn't sure if it was actually them she had been feeling, or if it had only been in her own mind.

In her own little inside world she had let go and allowed her form to build by instinct alone. The result was different from every one of her previous forms. Usually they had been designed to be slim and elegant. She had been made to dance, and her forms reflected that. It also couldn't be ignored that Pearls were expected to be beautiful, a part of their role, which explained the form fitting outfits, skirts and ruffles.

But this form, she was now wearing a jacket, and pants!

She hadn't worn pants since... Your Krol. There had been a rock show that Amethyst had wanted to see. Pearl had wanted to prove that she wasn't lost to time. She could still grow, change, rebel! She needed to. She could not spend the rest of eternity as she was, and she thought she had managed some change already. So she went to the show, she drank a juice, she even wore clothes! But the juice had been just as awful as any type of liquid she had tried to force down her neck tube (which she had to grow specifically for the process) and the clothes were awkward and restricting. She had felt like such a failure, but Amethyst and Steven had been impressed with her anyway. The confidence boost had let her talk to a human woman who had caught her attention earlier in the night. She had given Pearl a phone number, which was some kind of token of social victory according to Amethyst. The experience was such a boost, she began to feel like herself for the first time in over a decade, or perhaps someone new.

The clothes had been uncomfortable but she couldn't deny she had enjoyed the look. So it wasn't long before she realised her new form was almost the same outfit. That night must have left a larger impact on her than she had originally believed, and considering the amount of phone numbers she had collected since, it was an improvement.

All this flicked through her mind in an instant as she caught her reflection in the wall of the warp dome.

After the Diamonds' attack on Ruby and Sapphire's wedding Bismuth had designed and built a new home for Steven outside the temple. This included a separate dome for the warp pad, so unwanted visitors couldn't just appear inside the house.

Pearl touched to pad to open the door and felt the slight rush of sea air flow over her. After the Diamonds had left Earth Steven had began travelling the Gem Empire, inspecting the colonies and aiding in disarmament. He was gone for weeks at a time now, and his current trip had begun four days ago. While he was off-world he wanted the Crystal Gems to keep Beach city safe, especially as most of the earth-based Gems had decided to settle just beside the city itself.

"Hey Pearl!" Connie jumped out from the kitchen area "How was Ireland?"

"The warp pad is functioning again. The locals showed me were the drones were stationed, so they won't be a problem anymore." She tried not to sound smug, probably unsuccessfully.

"Things have been pretty quiet around here. Peridot and Bismuth are spending all their time designing Little Homeworld, which is keeping them out of trouble at least." She removed some kind of sandwich from the microwave, she had been spending as much time as she could staying here and trying to help. Sadly Pearl had trained her to fight but now the fight was over and she mostly just hung around the house or walked up and down the boardwalk. But she kept practising daily and Pearl was incredibly proud of how far she'd come. "Lapis is mostly lurking around, hoping the other gems try to talk to her. Garnet and Amethyst got back about an hour ago. They're down on the beach." With that she went back to her sandwich and Pearl made her way outside.

Amethyst was lying in the sun, dozing, and Garnet was staring off into the sky.

"I'm back!" Pearl called. "The Ireland warp is back online!"

Garnet nudged Amethyst with her foot. "Amethyst, wake up." She looked at Pearl. "Something is happening in the Arctic. We need to go now."

Millennia had allowed Pearl to learn when Garnet was actually serious instead of just stoic, this was one of those times.

"What did you see?"

"Something big."


	3. Chapter 3

3141 was surprised at how easily she could recall their path through the building. She quickly finished tracing their route and began expanding. She had counted every door and managed to see through many of them. She realised there were connecting paths between the corridors. She traced the paths the other groups had appeared from and calculated where other tank rooms had to be located. When she was done she realised she had almost completed the entire map.

She looked around. The black Pearl was watching the group with an unblinking smile, her nose tilted into the air. The reddish Pearl had drawn their path, with some corridors coming off it, some of them wrong.

Eventually Black Pearl clapped for attention. Those that were still drawing stopped and the screens disappeared while one appeared in front of Black Pearl. 3141 could see that she was looking through the drawings. Every one seemed to have the Pearls' path correct but additional details were mixed, none seemed as complete as 3141's. When it came up Black Pearl's smile seemed to grow almost imperceptibly larger and she began to speak without looking away from the screen.

"Almost seven thousand years ago, Gem scientists preposed an idea for Gem generation in liquid environments, allowing water planets to become useful resources without the hassle of draining them first. This facility was built to test the design. The initial batch wielded fourteen properly formed Gems. But the results were considered disappointing. These Gems were not particularly large or strong, and seemed to posses no particular abilities that set them apart. The project was to be scrapped. But a high ranking Gem requested ownership of some of the prototype Gems first. She liked how they looked and needed some simple assistance. It quickly became clear these Gems excelled at the tasks given to them. They quickly and efficiently took to their assignments and seemed to take joy in their successful completion. They seemed to live to improve the life of their charge. Soon many of the Gem aristocracy were requesting their own and it was decided that this facility would not only remain operational but be expanded. And so Pearls became a sign of status throughout the empire. But the second batch fell short of the standard set by the first, and so the lone Pearl left from the initial run requested that she could teach them better how to serve. And so for millennia every new batch of Pearls has gone through my training before being turned over to their new owner. We demand a true standard of quality here, in order to fulfil your duties you will need to be truly perfect."

She turned her screen to show them a rough line of corridors with a few side paths, all of them wrong. The White Pearl shrunk slightly.

"You will be assigned to gems from particularly lucky Jaspers all the way to Emeralds. We've even supplied the Diamonds themselves! In your station you will be carer, confidant, record keeper, advisor, representative, messenger, entertainer, and a million other things every day. You will not be thanked or rewarded. Yours is not to be truly seen. You will shoulder the million small problems thrown at your charge, so they may keep their focus on their true work of keeping our great civilisation moving forward! As the simple screw holds the pressure so armour plate can protect a ship, you will hold our world together and never be acknowledged for it."

The Pearls stood perfectly straight and still. The room was absolutely silent.

Her words had seemed harsh but there was something more. 3141 felt a real sense of purpose. She had been made to serve and now she knew how important that was. She wanted, even needed, to prove how well she could do. She wouldn't be just acceptable, she needed to make herself perfect!

Black Pearl looked over them all and smiled. "First thing's first. Dancing."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4.**

The arctic warp pad had been covered in snow. They saw it as a steam cloud in the warp stream as they arrived. Pearl had decided that Connie should stay behind. While she had dealt with cold before Garnet had said the trouble would be off the coast, which would be a death sentence for humans.

The trek towards the ocean was surprisingly quick. They had gotten used to keeping a slower pace for Steven's sake but with only the three gems they could move incredibly fast. Amethyst amused herself by shape-shifting into a wolf, seagull, and even a penguin! That one didn't last long, between the slow waddling speed and Pearl's lecture about how penguins are not actually found in the arctic she became a snowmobile and sped off ahead, Pearl following disappointed.

The shore was rocky. Grey, choppy water seemed to stretch off forever. Garnet didn't slow, running into the water and transitioning into a breast stroke. Amethyst cannonballed in before becoming a barracuda.

Together they swam for almost an hour. At one time they would've taken a small boat they had owned but that had been destroyed by a corrupted gem. Steven had been able to procure inflatable rafts when needed but Pearl had never been comfortable with human commerce. She almost never needed anything that had to be bought, and so hadn't gotten the hang of the process. But they could swim fine, so why bother?

Finally they saw it. A massive iceberg.

Garnet climbed out of the water first and stood perfectly still as the others caught up.

"Okay so why'd we come? We have ice at home!" Amethyst grumbled.

"Look at the shape." Garnet replied.

Pearl had seen it instantly. "It's broken open! Like something wanted to get out!"

Amethyst's shock lasted only milliseconds before being replaced by excitement. "You think it's a gem monster? One we missed 'cause it was frozen the whole time? We gotta hunt it DOWN!"

She pulled out her whip and took a step back towards the water before Garnet held up a hand.

"It's not a corrupted gem. They act on random instinct. What I saw wasn't random. It was focused, and angry."

"Okay so we track down this angry dude then!" Amethyst was getting impatient.

"No. We got here too late. They're long gone." She turned to them. "They will show themselves soon. We need to be ready for them."

She began to walk away but Pearl had to ask something. "Could this be related to the second site? We're not to far from it."

Garnet made a small nod. "It's possible."

"What "second site"?" Amethyst looked back and forth between them.

Pearl, always glad for a chance to lecture, answered. "Well, during the war many gems swarmed to the side of the rebellion. After a few centuries we had gotten numerous enough that it was decided we should establish a second main base away from the temple. That way even if the temple were taken the Crystal Gems would be able to keep fighting! The base was built in the arctic circle, but shortly after it was started we lost contact."

"Homeworld attacked, and took down everyone." Garnet explained. "There were no survivors."

Amethyst looked very uncomfortable about this, until a thought occurred to her. "So this could be one of the old Crystal Gems? Someone survived the attack and is back to fight again?"

Garnet didn't say anything. Pearl knew that seemed too much to hope. Even Bismuth's return had seemed so impossibly unlikely, and then so many, and yet so few, had been corrupted and then cured. Could another old friend really be out there? Sleeping in the ice for thousands of years only to awaken now?

"Whoever they are, we need to get back. They'll show up somewhere soon, and I think we might want everyone's help when they do."


End file.
